Red, White & Blue Rosette Cake

Make this 4th of July festive with this fun Red, White & Blue Rosette Cake!

This red, white and blue rosette cake is a simple vanilla cake made with creamy buttercream. The cake layers are individually colored and flavored for a perfect 4th of July surprise.

The red cake and buttercream are made with strawberry emulsion. While the blue cake and buttercream are made with blueberry emulsion. The emulsions are concentrated flavorings that won’t water down your cake or buttercream but will add bright bold flavor. You can find flavor emulsions at your local cake specialty store or online like Amazon.

This festive 4th of July cake is not only pretty to look at but tastes incredible. I wanted to create this cake to show you how to turn a simple vanilla cake base into a fun and exciting cake. Since baking and cake decorating starts with confidence in the kitchen, this red, white and blue cake is great for beginner bakers.

It’s then decorated with the rosette buttercream pattern. Which is deceivingly easy as it looks complicated but it’s actually one piping techniques repeated over the whole cake. It’ll certainly make you look like a pro baker!

Tips before baking:

You can bake the cake layers ahead of time. Simply wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month.

You can make the lime curd and buttercream a day ahead and refrigerate them overnight. Then take them out to come back to room temperature. Make sure the buttercream is at room temperature before re-whipping.

A single batch of this cake recipe makes three, 6-inch round cake layers or two 8-inch round cake layers. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for three, 8-inch cake layers.

Be careful to not overmix this cake batter or else the cake will come out dense. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Food coloring gets darker over time so it’s best to gradually add the food coloring.

Let’s Get Baking!

How to Make Red, White & Blue Cake

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans or two 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk and stir together the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil, and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until well incorporated.

Turn the mixer on low and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until fully incorporated.

Add buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix on low for 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do NOT overmix the cake batter.

Evenly divide the cake batter into 3 bowls. In one bowl add the strawberry emulsion, a drop of fuschia food color and red food color, use a rubber spatula to quickly mix together. In another bowl add the blueberry emulsion, a drop of fuschia food color and blue food color, use a rubber spatula to quickly mix together. Be careful to overmix or else cake will become dense. Leave the last bowl white.

Evenly distribute the cake batter among the three cake pans and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.

Remove cakes from oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.

How to Make Red, White & Blue Buttercream

In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the heavy cream, salt and vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated completely. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat the frosting for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Turn the mixer on low and mix for 2 minutes to push out any air bubbles.

Fill ⅔ of a piping bag fitted with a closed star piping tip and white buttercream. Set aside for stacking.

Divide the remaining buttercream into 3 bowls. In one bowl, add strawberry emulsion, followed by with a drop of fuschia food color to build a base color then add a drop of super red food color. In the second bowl, add blueberry emulsion, followed by with a drop of fuschia food color to build a base color then add a drop of royal blue food color.

Prepare a piping bag fitted with a closed star piping tip and red buttercream. Then repeat with the blue buttercream.

Putting It All Together

Remove the cake layers from the freezer and unwrap the cake layers. Next, use a serrated knife to cut off the dome of the cakes to make the layers flat and even.

Add a small amount of buttercream onto the center of the cake board.

Layer the chilled blue cake, cut side up onto the cake board. Pipe ½ cup of white buttercream on top and smooth out with an offset spatula.

Place the white cake layer cut side down over the top. Pipe ½ cup of white buttercream on top and smooth out with an offset spatula. Place the red cake layer cut side down over the top.

Crumb coat and freeze for 20 minutes.

Starting with the red buttercream, pipe rosettes along the bottom of the cake. Then pipe a row of white buttercream. Repeat until the sides are covered with red and white buttercream.

Then pipe rosettes with the blue buttercream on top of the cake.

Watch The How-to Video Below:

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This 4th of July red, white and blue rosette cake will certainly impress your friends and family. It’s perfect for kids of all ages!

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Happy Baking!

Red, White & Blue Rosette Cake

This red, white and blue rosette cake is a simple vanilla cake made with creamy buttercream. The cake layers are individually colored and flavored for a perfect 4th of July surprise.

Course
Dessert

Cuisine
American

Keyword
Buttercream, Cake Decorating, Cake Recipe

Prep Time45minutes

Cook Time40minutes

Cooling Time1hour15minutes

Total Time2hours40minutes

Servings16-inch round cake

AuthorKatie

Ingredients

Red, White & Blue Cake

1cupunsalted butter, room temperature

1/2cupvegetable oil

2cupsgranulated sugar

6largewhole eggs

2largeegg yolks

2 3/4 cupsall-purpose flour

1/4cupcornstarch

2teaspoonsbaking powder

1teaspoonsalt

1cupbuttermilk

1 1/2 Tablespoonsstrawberry emulsion

1 1/2 Tablespoonsblueberry emulsion

Fuchsia gel food coloring

Super red gel food coloring

Royal blue gel food coloring

Red, White & Blue Buttercream

2 cups(or 4 sticks)unsalted butter, room temperature

7 1/2 cupspowdered sugar, sifted

1Tablespoonheavy cream

1teaspoon salt

2teaspoonsvanilla extract

1Tablespoonstrawberry emulsion

1Tablespoonblueberry emulsion

Fuchsia gel food coloring

Super red gel food coloring

Royal blue gel food coloring

Instructions

Red, White & Blue Cake

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans or two 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk and stir together the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil, and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until well incorporated.

Turn the mixer on low and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until fully incorporated.

Add buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix on low for 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do NOT overmix the cake batter.

Evenly divide the cake batter into 3 bowls. In one bowl add the strawberry emulsion, a drop of fuchsia food color and red food color, use a rubber spatula to quickly mix together. In another bowl add the blueberry emulsion, a drop of fuchsia food color and blue food color, use a rubber spatula to quickly mix together. Be careful to overmix or else cake will become dense. Leave the last bowl white.

Evenly distribute the cake batter among the three cake pans and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.

Remove cakes from oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.

Red, White & Blue Buttercream

In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the heavy cream, salt and vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated completely. Scrape down sides of bowl.

Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat the frosting for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Turn the mixer on low and mix for 2 minutes to push out any air bubbles.

Fill 2/3 of a piping bag fitted with a closed star piping tip and white buttercream. Set aside for stacking.

Divide the remaining buttercream into 3 bowls. In one bowl, add strawberry emulsion, followed by with a drop of fuchsia food color to build a base color then add a drop of super red food color. In the second bowl, add blueberry emulsion, followed by with a drop of fuchsia food color to build a base color then add a drop of royal blue food color.

Prepare a piping bag fitted with a closed star piping tip and red buttercream. Then repeat with the blue buttercream.

Assemble

Remove the cake layers from the freezer and unwrap the cake layers. Next, use a serrated knife to cut off the dome of the cakes to make the layers flat and even.

Add a small amount of buttercream onto the center of the cake board.

Layer the chilled blue cake, cut side up onto the cake board. Pipe 1/2 cup of white buttercream on top and smooth out with an offset spatula.

Place the white cake layer cut side down over the top. Pipe ½ cup of white buttercream on top and smooth out with an offset spatula. Place the red cake layer cut side down over the top.

Crumb coat and freeze for 20 minutes.

Starting with the red buttercream, pipe rosettes along the bottom of the cake. Then pipe a row of white buttercream. Repeat until the sides are covered with red and white buttercream.

Then pipe rosettes with the blue buttercream on top of the cake.

Recipe Notes

Be careful to not overmix this cake batter or else the cake will come out dense.

For coloring, the cake batter and buttercream, start with a base of fuschia then build to red or blue so you won’t use that much food coloring. Food coloring gets darker over time so it’s best to gradually add the food coloring.

A single batch of this cake recipe makes 2 cake layers for 8” or 9” round cakes. Or can make 3 cake layers for 6” round cakes. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for (3) 8” or 9” cake layers.

Serve cake at room temperature.

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How to Avoid These Common Baking Mistakes

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About Katie

Katie started her journey as a food blogger to share her love of food and cake decorating! She knew very early on that she has always wanted to make people happy through all things creative. Katie's goal is to help others create memories and experiences through cakes and delicious recipes!

About XO, Katie Rosario

I’m Katie – the creator behind XO, Katie Rosario from Los Angeles, CA. I believe that being a great cake decorator starts with confidence in the kitchen. With these simple tips and tricks you too can become a CAKE QUEEN!